BE MORE CHILL (Broadway) Previews — Page 3

Not sure why Be More Chill opted to hold back sooo many seats until the day of performance. I knew some people who wanted to go first preview but it was sold out for a few weeks now. Ah well.

SomethingPeculiar said: "I'm very curious about what its advance is. Looking at Telecharge, it's slim pickins for the first two weeks of previews, and then there's a lot of inventory after that. I don't think they've done a discount code yet, but there are$49 balcony tickets."

Why do people continually post FALSE information on this board? There has been a discount code out for well over a month: BCDRM1113

This works on Telecharge offers.

CarmenA3 said: "brenway said: "Only three of us here at 8:55."

Wow, I was expecting to hear of a long line - thanks for the report! Where are your seats located? Have a great time!"

My seat is located ORCH row C seat 8, listed as obstructed view. I was third in line. The two people in front of me both got sets of 2 partial view seats in the Orchestra.

oh and a producer of the show brought out hot chocolate!!

Updated On: 2/13/19 at 02:54 PM

that's an AWESOME seat for that price!!!! Please report back what you thought and enjoy! I agree that's awesome the producer gave you hot chocolate.

After missing the off-Broadway, I was finally ready to see what all the hype surrounding Be More Chill was about. I’m sorry to report that whatever is causing the stans to scream their heads off (almost) completely eluded me. The show is highly derivative (Mean Girls, Dead Evan Hansen, Little Shop of Horrors), but mostly it reminded me of 13, even though JRB provided that cast with an infinitely better score.

There’s only one song that a real winner; when George Salazar sings Michael in the Bathroom in act two, it’s like the Red Sea parted for five minutes and we saw a wonderful showcase for a supporting actor to run away with the show he was already stealing.

Other than this song, the rest of the score ranges from decent to I can see how this would work at one of Iconis’ jamborees, but it’s not working here.

The audience reaction was very mixed. On one side of me there was a fan dressed in one of the character’s costumes who screamed, hooted, hollered and sobbed through the whole thing (it seemed to be about making it all about herself than anything else) and then on my other side were a couple in their 30’s who were not amused at all.

I can’t lie and say that the more rabid fans in the audience didn’t have an effect on my enjoyment, but even if they had toned down their behavior I still don’t think I would have had a reaction much greater than a shrug.

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There’s not much to the set. Some lockers that roll on, classroom chairs, the usual school sets. Lots of neon type lighting and video game type projections (playing video games comes into both the plot and the theme of the show).

The cast is small. There’s no ensemble, but it didn’t feel swallowed up in Lyceum.

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It was 2:45.

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Matt Rogers said: "Why do people continually post FALSE information on this board? There has been a discount code out for well over a month:BCDRM1113 This works on Telecharge offers."

My sincere apologies, thank you for clarifying! I hadn't remembered seeing one, and BroadwayBox didn't list a code. I can assure you that I didn't have any malicious intent in my accidental fake news... :)

2 hours and 45 minutes is ridiculously long, especially for a teeny bopper musical! What is this, The Ferryman? Lol.

I realize this post sounds like a cranky old man wrote it (I’m 34), so I’m guessing this show isn’t for me haha.

dramamama611 said: "So now we're judging on run time alone? If its good, you won't notice/care how long it is, if its bad, even 30 minutes would be too long."

I would say 90 percent of stuff I see these days that I like, I would 'love' if you cut all the filler out of them and they were around 90 minutes.

The Bands Visit, Come From Away and Six all benefitted greatly from knowing their limitations and rightly choosing to not outstay their welcome.

Hopefully it will become a trend.

This whole 2-3 hour thing seems to be in place simply to justify the horrendous price tags.

I was at the invited dress rehearsal on Tuesday night. With the late start and longer intermission, we were out before 11:00 so i estimated it at 2 and a half hours. It flew by.

The storyline is nothing new. It just has the pill twist to it. With that said, I have to give it to this cast. From top to bottom they are very good. Actually insanely good! The show is pretty fast paced and they are spot on. They elevate the material.

The book is ok. The music serves the show but i only came out humming "Michael In the Bathroom". I listened to bits of it when the recording was released and it sounds much better live.

I sat in A6 and A4 (A4 opened up acter intermission) missed things at the rear of the stage and things during the ""play performance" in act 2. Don't sit there if you are shorter!

Glad i finally saw what all the talk was about. I can see at least 2 supporting acting nominations. It was an entertaining evening but not, for me, the be all end all. And I am older and didn't feel as if it wasn't for me. If you were around for and saw the John Hughes teen movies then you'll be fine.

Would i see it again? If invited yes. For a better view, the good cast and a magnet.

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Updated On: 2/14/19 at 09:04 AM

I believe we have underestimated how much the public actually wants be more chill.

Beetlejuice has a rush line going past applebees and BMC couldn't get 10 people in line. Everyone should be fine rushing since the target audience is still in school.

I’ve been thinking about the show this morning and have a few other thoughts.

I think they mishandled the writing of the squip, who basically acts as a Faust/Damn Yankees plot device. Jason Tam is a very likable performer- great voice and plenty of charisma- but the version of Mr. Applegate he has been given to work with is very much lacking.

Adler/Ross/Abbott were smart to make the devil charming and funny, and were especially shred to give him a few numbers to endear himself to the audience. It’s a missed opportunity to not let Tam’s squip have a chance to take center stage and either bring the audience in on his plans or lament to the audience about how stupid humanity has become a la “Good Old Days.” I would also have gone for a fun duet between Jeremy and the squip in act one that could explore his powers in a comedic way that is maybe reprised in act two in a scary way. The squip, like Applegate, should be in the running to steal the show, but the character never gets to blossom fully.

I think the runtime will be cut down- the intermission alone took up a bit of the length- but I think the reason I felt every minute of it was because there is very little straying from the standard teen musical template here. There’s a big opening number about how hard it is to fit in at school, Jeremy gets harassed by a bully, ignored by the cool kids (and later entangled in their romantic shenanigans), etc. Jeremy had a fellow loser friend...I wonder if he will have to betray this friend as a price to pay when he becomes cool!

If you’re going to cover such well-trod ground, it better be in a super fresh and creative way. “The Smartphone Hour” (an homage to The Telephone Hour that makes one appreciate Charles Strouse’s talents like never before) was already done in 13 as “It Can’t Be True” when the gossips make a telephone to spread the word about Evan and Kendra. It’s like the same song! How many retreads can we have?

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